Encyclopedia of Needlework Part 60

In tacking braids on to circular patterns, the inside edges, as we pointed out at the beginning of this chapter, have to be drawn in with overcasting st.i.tches in very fine thread.

Fig. 764 shows how to fill in a round s.p.a.ce with net st.i.tches. It will be observed that the loop which begins the row, has the thread of the loop with which it terminates, wound round it, which thread then pa.s.ses on to the second series of st.i.tches. In the same manner you pa.s.s to the third row after which you pick up all the loops and fasten off the thread by working back to the braid edge over all the rows of loops, following the course indicated by the dotted line.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 765. FILLING IN ROUND s.p.a.cES. FIRST CIRCLE OF WHEELS BEGUN.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 766. FILLING IN ROUND s.p.a.cES. THE TWO CIRCLES OF WHEELS FINISHED.]

Fig. 765 shows how to finish a row of loops with wheels worked upon three threads only. In the first row, you make a wheel over each bar; in the second, you make a bar between every two wheels; in the third, the wheels are only made over every second bar; a fourth row of bars which you pick up with a thread completes the interior of the circle, then you work along the bars with overcasting st.i.tches, fig. 766, to carry the thread back to the edge of the braid where you fasten it off.

NEEDLE-MADE PICOTS (figs. 767, 768, 769).--The edges and outlines of Irish lace are generally bordered with picots, which as we have already said can be bought ready-made (see fig. 692). They are not however very strong and we cannot recommend them for lace that any one has taken the pains to make by hand.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 767. CONNECTED NEEDLE-MADE PICOTS.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 768. ISOLATED NEEDLE-MADE PICOTS.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 769. b.u.t.tONHOLE PICOTS WITH PICOTS IN BULLION St.i.tCH.]

In fig. 767, the way to make picots all joined together is described.

You begin, as in fig. 762, by a knot, over which the thread is twisted as indicated in the engraving.

It is needless to repeat that the loops should all be knotted in a line, all be of the same length and all the same distance apart.

Fig. 768 represents the kind of needle-made picots which most resemble the machine-made ones, and fig. 769 show us the use of little scallops surmounted by picots, made in bullion st.i.tch.

One or two rows of lace st.i.tch fig. 736, or the first rows of figs. 749, 750, can also be used in the place of picots.

IRISH LACE (fig. 770).--English braids or those braids which are indicated at the foot of the engraving must be tacked down on to the pattern and gathered on the inside edge, wherever the lines are curved, as explained in fig. 693; in cases however where only Lacet superfin D.M.C[A] is used, the needle should be slipped in underneath the outside threads, so that the thread with which you draw in the braid be hidden.

The braids are joined together where they meet with a few overcasting st.i.tches, as shown in the ill.u.s.tration.

Here, we find one of the lace st.i.tches used instead of picots; the first row of fig. 736 always makes a nice border for Irish lace.

IRISH LACE (fig. 771).--This pattern, which is more complicated and takes more time and st.i.tches than the preceding one, can also be executed with one or other of the braids mentioned at the beginning of the chapter; but it looks best made with a close braid.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 770. IRISH LACE.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 771. IRISH LACE. MATERIALS: Lacet surfin D.M.C No.

5, white or ecru and Fil d'Alsace D.M.C Nos. 40 to 150, or Fil a dentelle D.M.C Nos. 50 to 150.]

The bars, which in the ill.u.s.tration are simply b.u.t.tonholed may also be ornamented with picots of one kind or another; the interior s.p.a.ces of the figure on the left can be filled, instead of with corded bars, with one of the lace st.i.tches we have described, either fig. 720, 721, or 732, any one of which is suitable for filling in small s.p.a.ces like these.

In the figure on the right, the ring of braid may be replaced by close b.u.t.tonhole st.i.tches, made over several foundation threads or over one thick thread, such as Fil a pointer D.M.C No. 10 or 20[A] to make them full and round.

You begin the ring on the inside and increase the number of st.i.tches as the circ.u.mference increases.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 772. IRISH LACE. MATERIALS: English braid with open edge.--For the lattice work: Fil d'Alsace D.M.C in b.a.l.l.s Nos. 50 to 100 or Fil a dentelle D.M.C Nos. 50 to 100, white. For the cord: Cordonnet 6 fils D.M.C No. 15, ecru.[A]]

Any of the st.i.tches, from fig. 720 to fig. 743, can be introduced here.

IRISH LACE (fig. 772).--Here we find one of the fillings above alluded to, fig. 751, used as a ground for the flowers and leaves. For the design itself some of the closer st.i.tches described in this chapter, should be selected. When the actual lace, is finished you sew upon the braid a thin cord, made of ecru Cordonnet 6 fils D.M.C, as described in the chapter on different kinds of fancy work. Cords of this kind can be had ready made, but the hand-made ones are much to be preferred, being far softer and more supple than the machine-made.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 773. IRISH LACE. MATERIALS--For the cord: Cordonnet 6 fils D.M.C Nos. 15 to 25. For the bars and lace st.i.tches: Fil a dentelle D.M.C No. 200.[A]]

IRISH LACE (fig. 773).--This lace, more troublesome than the preceding ones to make, is also much more valuable and effective. The ground is composed entirely of bars, like the ones described in fig. 761, the branches, true to the character of the work are worked in the close st.i.tch represented in fig. 755, and the flowers in double net st.i.tch, fig. 721.

In working the above fillings, the thread must not, as in lace made with braid, be carried on from one point to the other by overcasting st.i.tches along the braid edges, but should be drawn out horizontally through the cord and back again the same way, giving the needle in so doing a slightly slanting direction.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] See at the end of the concluding chapter, the table of numbers and sizes and the list of colours of the D.M.C threads and cottons.

[Ill.u.s.tration: VENETIAN LACE OF THE XVI CENTURY.]

Laces of different kinds.

In general, to the uninitiated, the word lace signifies exclusively the delicate and elaborate fabrics that owe their origin to Venice and the Netherlands and were thence imported into other countries. But besides Venetian, French, English, Chantilly, Brussels, Sedan point, names familiar to every one, there are all kinds of other laces, likewise of great antiquity, and named as the above are, after the country they belong to.

As it would be impossible in these pages to give a comprehensive account of them all, we have restricted ourselves to such as seem more especially suited to the amateur, to whom needlework is a mere recreation and pastime.

Worked like the above-named entirely with the needle, but much less elaborate and minute in character and workmanship, they are quicker and easier to make and we are sure that by the help of the directions that accompany the ill.u.s.trations, any careful worker will be able to imitate them without difficulty.

MATERIALS.--It will be observed that we do not bind ourselves in the following directions to one size of cotton, that as in point of fact, one and the same piece of work can be executed in either fine or coa.r.s.e cotton, we have only indicated the most suitable kind of material to use: as for instance for Armenian lace, Fil a pointer D.M.C[A] or Cordonnet 6 fils D.M.C[A], for Smyrna or knotted lace, Fil a pointer D.M.C, Cordonnet 6 fils D.M.C and Fil a dentelle D.M.C[A], for Reticella and Venetian lace, Fil d'Alsace D.M.C[A], for Brussels lace, the finest numbers of Fil a dentelle and for pillow lace, any one of those enumerated, excepting Coton a broder surfin.

PILLOW LACE AND THE NECESSARY ARTICLES FOR ITS MANUFACTURE.--Pillow lace derives its name from the cushion or pillow on which all bobbin lace is made, which distinguishes it from point lace, so-called because it consists of points or st.i.tches made with a needle and thread.

Various articles are required for the making of pillow lace; in the first place a cushion or pillow, then bobbins and a winder, parchment patterns, pins and a p.r.i.c.ker.

THE LACE PILLOW (figs. 774, 775, 776).--The pillows used for pillow lace are of different kinds and vary in shape with where the country, and the manner in which the lace is made.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 774. THE LACE PILLOW.]

Fig. 774 represents the shape in use in the mountains of Bohemia and Saxony, where pillow lace has always been one of the chief industries of the inhabitants. Any one can make a cushion of this kind themselves with a piece of stuff, 60 c/m. long and 40 wide. The long sides are firmly sewn together and the short ones turned in with a narrow hem through which you run a cord to draw them up. A disc of stout cardboard is put inside the case after you have gathered up the one end; you then stuff the case as full as possible with bran, sawdust or horsehair, lay a second disc of cardboard in at the top and draw up the other end.

These pillows are then put into cardboard boxes with rather high sides, or into a kind of basket, weighted at the bottom, to keep it firm and steady. Pillows of this most primitive kind have the great advantage of being perfectly easy to make.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 775. PILLOW WITH MOVABLE CYLINDER FOR MAKING LACE.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 776. POSITION OF THE BOBBINS AND THE WORK ON THE CUSHION FIG. 775.]

Fig. 775 represents a pillow of a more complicated kind, which can be stood upon the table or mounted on a stand. The cylinder is movable so that you can go on working without interruption.